Christ was not a law-hater; and any disciple of Jesus will not want to cross him in this attitude. Rather than being a law-hater, Jesus was a law-corrector—He came to fulfill the law and to put it back in proper light. Let me conclude with this. Christ honors the Law. The Pharisees thought they did. However, their tragic mistake was to try to live or keep the Law apart from Christ. I wonder, if an awful lot of church-goers aren’t guilty of that. If one does, it is because one separates Christ from the Law.

 
Read Matt. 5:19-20

There are some who mistakenly think that Christ in this sermon expounds a new and improved moral code. I hope as we review the balance of Matthew 5 to persuade you that he speaks with one voice with the OT revelation. There is a unity of doctrine all throughout Scripture, rooted in the divine authorship that permeates this book. Some people think that the OT is “narrow, harsh, cruel, bigoted, imperfect, impure, and semi-barbaric, and that this is all corrected by Christ”1  in this sermon. They think that “Christ here supersedes the moral teachings of the OT.” But a careful study of both Old and New Testament morality and worship will show that the OT is quite full of mercy and grace; meanwhile the New Testament preserves elements of God’s wrath and judgment. These are not two different testamental plans of religion. The Old Testament points precisely to Christ who fulfills it perfectly—not differently.
 
J. B. Shearer wrote: “Doctrine is the basis of morals. There can be no moral system that is not grounded in doctrine. If one is true, the other is sound; if one is false, the other is perverse and corrupt. If the doctrine is inadequate or variable, the moral system is vitiated to the same extent.”2  Thus, if the OT doctrine is corrupt, all the ethics and other teachings founded upon it are corrupt.
 
In order to vindicate Jesus’ teaching, review the assumptions behind this sermon. What does this great discourse pre-suppose? Or what has gone before that must be understood?
 
A. Old Testament Background. Jesus knew and loved his Old Testament (his Bible has the same message as ours). He drew from it, cited it, quoted freely, interpreted, and even clarified the Old Testament. Many times in this sermon, we can only glean the real meaning if we flip back to an Old Testament reference. Let us never disparage or minimize the need to understand the Old Testament.
 
B. New Birth is Pre-requisite. Although Jesus never uses the word “re-birth” in this particular sermon, he taught about it earlier and insisted that no one can live in his kingdom unless first re-born. These standards are not attainable to the natural man, but only to those newly re-born children of God. Jesus spoke this sermon directly to those who were already his disciples.

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